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My historical western romance novel, Staking Claim, is set during the
Yukon Gold Rush. While researching for that book, I picked up many books for references,
and one that I found fascinating was Gold
Rush Women by Claire Rudolf Murphy and Jane G. Haigh. The stories of the women in that book helped
me get the feel of the life of a woman at that time and place. Here are a couple of
the women who intrigued me.
Anna DeGraff – Was
born in Germany and came to America in 1867. She faced many hardships including
losing her husband and raising 5 children. A the age of 55 she climbed Chilkoot
Pass in spring of 1894 with a crutch and
feet wrapped in rags to find her son who had left in search of gold in 1892. On
this journey she carried her sewing machine and a feather bed. To hike the pass she wore a heavy skirt,
layered petticoats, a blouse, warm jacket, cap and heavy shoes. She round the
pass both beautiful and daunting. Along
the way she asked about her son. An
October snow storm arrived when she was in Circle City. There she and one other
woman in the party brought the town’s count of women to 8 while there were
several hundred men. She went to work
making tents for a store and clothing for the miners and dance hall girls. In
the spring of 1896 Anna decided to abanodon her search for her son. She sold
her sewing machine and traveled to San Francisco. The gold dust she’d been paid
for all her sewing amounted to $1,200.
Bridget Mannion – An Irish immigrant working as a cook for a
wealthy family, Bridget was bitten by the Alaska bug while listening to guests
at her employer’s dinner table. She
managed to get hired as a maid to the wife and sailed for Alaska the summer of
1892 from Seattle. After having to wait in one of the first Russian settlements
on the Yukon River through the winter, they arrived at Forty Mile settlement
the summer of 1893. She loved the
frontier community and soon learned class distinctions didn’t matter in a
country where you had to depend on one another. She had many suitors but waited
for the right man to come alone. She found him in an Irish man who panned
$50,000 a month from his mine. She dressed in silks and was no longer a cook.
She visited her relatives in Ireland and after several years in Alaska, move to
Seattle, and participated in the Yukon Order of Pioneers. She lived to the age of 92.
Paty Jager writes murder
mysteries and steamy romance starring cowboys and Indians.
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